IANS
Dhaka
The North Korean diplomat, who was caught with 27kg of gold at Bangladesh’s Shahjalal International Airport, was on Monday asked to leave the country.
North Korean ambassador Ri Song Hyon was summoned to the Bangladeshi foreign ministry on Monday and the decision was communicated, according to a bdnews24.com report.
Authorities recovered 170 gold bars, weighing 27kg, from North Korean first secretary Son Yung Nam at the airport last Friday.
He was arrested, but let off under diplomatic norms.
The accused diplomat was asked to leave Dhaka within 72 hours. Ambassador Ri, however, informed that the diplomat had left Dhaka on Sunday night itself.
Son was asked to leave because, according to the Vienna Convention, he could not have been prosecuted in a Bangladeshi court unless his government waived his diplomatic immunity.
The Bangladesh foreign ministry, however, asked the ambassador to convey to Pyongyang that Dhaka wanted that the first secretary be brought to justice in his own country.
The ambassador was also asked to inform Bangladesh about the actions the North Korean government took against the diplomat, a senior official told bdnews24.com.
Bangladeshi authorities recovered 170 gold bars from the diplomat’s hand baggage as he returned to Dhaka from Singapore after what he claimed was an “official tour”.
He, however, could not produce any document to substantiate his contention.
Smuggling gold has become a regular phenomenon at Dhaka and Chittagong airports, particularly in the last two years. Some analysts attribute it to the rising tariff in India.
Smugglers are known to use this route to reach the Indian market as Bangladesh and India share a largely porous border.
However, this was the first time that a serving diplomat was caught with a such a large quantity of gold.